Manmohan Singh named Indian prime minister

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Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms and a respected consensus builder, was named prime minister of India yesterday, ending weeks of political turmoil that culminated with Sonia Gandhi's refusal to take the post.

Dr Singh, 71, and Congress party leader Mrs Gandhi met President A P J Abdul Kalam at his palace last night, where he approved their bid to form a minority government, with Dr Singh at the helm.

He will be India's first Sikh prime minister in the mainly Hindu nation's history since independence from Britain in 1947. He could take an oath of office as early as today.

Italian-born Mrs Gandhi, 57, is likely to be the power behind Dr Singh's throne. She retains organisational control of the Congress party as well as a parliamentary seat. Before his appointment, Dr Singh described Mrs Gandhi as his leader.

She stunned the nation on Tuesday by declining the prime minister's post even though she led her party to a surprising victory over now ousted Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance. Many blamed her decision on attacks by Hindu nationalists who did not want a foreign-born woman leading the nation of 1 billion people.

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The meeting with the president took place after she ignored pleas from senior Congress officials and protests from thousands of disappointed supporters who wanted her to change her mind and take the job herself.

"I am happy to inform the nation the president has invited me to form the next government," Dr Singh told reporters after emerging from the ornate, colonial-era palace. Mrs Gandhi was by his side and they appeared at ease, laughing when reporters shouted questions at them. She wore a cream-coloured sari. He wore a powder-blue turban.

Dr Singh signalled strong support for financial markets which earlier this week took an unprecedented dive amid fears that Mrs Gandhi would form an unstable government, held hostage by two communist parties who oppose many economic reforms.

The leftists have signalled that they will work with Dr Singh, even though he pioneered India's economic reform campaign in the 1990s when he was finance minister in a former Congress government.

His admirers credit him with helping to save the country's socialist-style economy from near collapse at the time.

A senior Congress leader said Dr Singh would be sworn in today or Saturday. Friday, he said, was an auspicious date on the Hindu calendar. It is also the 13th anniversary of the assassination of Mrs Gandhi's husband, Rajiv, a former prime minister.